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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23352313">drown in me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicsopsychotic/pseuds/willamaybeck'>willamaybeck (ironicsopsychotic)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The 39 Clues - Various Authors</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>College AU, F/M, college AU?, gotta add hamead tho, haven't read all the books but know what happens so bear w me, i'm just here for amian and natan, jonah is THE ladies man, nat lived obviously, not canon heavy calm down it's a cOLLEGE AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:00:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23352313</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironicsopsychotic/pseuds/willamaybeck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan couldn’t help but look over again and say under his breath, “She really hasn’t changed.”<br/>“Yo, what?” Kyle got in his personal space again and reshaped the group into a football-like huddle. “You know her?”<br/>Understatement of the century.</p><p>//</p><p>dan and natalie have managed to go an entire semester without crossing paths on their college campus. they prefer to live in peaceful avoidance. but a false fire alarm leads to finally realizing they live in the same dorm, to poking around in each other's business, to actually becoming friends. sort of. it's more complicated than that, because every time natalie sends something resembling a smile his way it gets harder and harder for dan to ignore the feeling growing in his chest. amy and ian are the cahill-kabra pairing, not him and the cobra.<br/>definitely not.</p><p>[originally posted on 27 mar 2017 (literally today at 2am lmao) under willamaybeck; i just made it a pseud for easier personal access]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amy Cahill/Ian Kabra, Dan Cahill/Natalie Kabra, Hamilton Holt/Sinead Starling (background)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>drown in me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was one thirty in the morning, the Seton Hall parking lot was filled to the brim with irritated and rumpled college students, and Dan Cahill was absolutely pissed that someone had decided now was the perfect time to pull the fire alarm. (To be fair, if <em>he </em>had thought to pull it first as a practical joke… then that would’ve been hilarious.)</p><p>             He was in the middle of absolutely obliterating his roommate, Oliver, in a new video game they’d pooled their money together to buy when the alarm started going off. Having been in enough dangerous situations to be considered a miracle for surviving them, Dan didn’t think twice before dragging Oliver and any of his friends he found along the way out of the building.</p><p>             The <em>problem </em>was that the alarm was a total sham. After a quick but thorough sweep of the dormitory, security guards deemed it completely safe–and thus, everyone was stuck outside until the dean cracked down on who had pulled the alarm in the first place. That was, after Dan convinced him he hadn’t done it and Oliver vouched for him.</p><p>             Dan was busy tugging at the collar of his shirt and frantically wondering if he had enough sense to pause the video game before checking out, when Oliver nudged him in the side.</p><p>             “What?” Dan snapped, fixing his friend with a glare before toning down the irritation. He glanced at their mutual friend standing by Oliver. “What’s up Kyle?”</p><p>             Oliver coughed into his fist and bumped against Kyle now. “Go on. Tell him.”</p><p>             Dan raised his eyebrows expectantly, still messing with his collar. Everything was too hot following the false alarm. He felt like he was burning up, memories threatening to consume him if he dwelled on it too much.</p><p>             But then Kyle leaned over and said in what was supposed to be a conspiratorial voice, “Check out the hottie in the towel.” He nodded in the general direction as Dan whipped around to find her himself through the crowd.</p><p>             No sooner did he catch sight of <em>her</em> than he groaned and dropped his hand from his neck. “That’s fucking gross, man.”</p><p>             Kyle looked at him like he was insane. But he didn’t know what Dan knew.</p><p>             Oliver squinted. “Yo, wait, is that Kabra?”</p><p>             “That’s the Cobra, alright,” Dan grumbled, crossing his arms and making a silent promise to himself to keep his eyes above Natalie’s neckline. He could look at her; the face wasn’t off limits. But whatever the towel was doing for her he didn’t need to know.</p><p>             His roommate nodded in agreement. “Cobra is <em>right. </em>Man, did I ever tell you I tried to talk to her after our science class once? I woke up on the ground outside the library an hour later.” He shook his head, catching Dan’s eye. “Shit’s <em>wack</em>.”</p><p>            He was oblivious to Dan’s internal struggle over whether to laugh or be disgusted. Dan couldn’t help but look over again and say under his breath, “She really hasn’t changed.”</p><p>            “Yo, what?” Kyle got in his personal space again and reshaped the group into a football-like huddle. “You know her?”</p><p><em>            Understatement of the century. </em>Dan grimaced. “She’s sorta my sister’s boyfriend’s sister.” The discomfort he usually felt when mentioning Amy and Ian didn’t come. Not because he was over how slimy Ian was, but because Amy officially dating him made Dan’s life a thousand times easier. No more denials and secret rendezvous for him to find out about, which suited him just fine. He’d caught them making out in a coat closet once at a Cahill reunion and that was the most he wanted to see. <em>Ever.</em></p><p>            His buddies looked at him like he hit the jackpot and hadn’t done anything about it yet.</p><p>            Dan feigned a childish pout. “Shitty, I know.”</p><p>            “You serious?” Kyle overlapped him, mouth still agape.</p><p>            Without waiting for an answer, Oliver shoved Dan hard and insisted, “Bro, get over there! You can get me an in!”</p><p>            “First of all,” Dan said, glancing back and forth between them, “she literally drugged you for talking to her. You really think I have the kind of influence to undo that?”</p><p>            Oliver crossed his arms indignantly and mumbled, “We don’t know that she drugged me.”</p><p>            Dan ignored it. Better to keep everyone             off the Cahill trail. “And second, I <em>really </em>don’t have that kind of influence over her. She hates my guts, and I hate hers.”</p><p>            While Oliver continued to sulk, Kyle pushed past him and grabbed Dan’s shoulders. “Who. Cares? Shouldn’t you go check on her?” He looked over Dan’s shoulder and grinned to himself. “She looks so good.”</p><p>            Dan shrugged him off him and made a face. “She got out, didn’t she? Looks fine to me.” He didn’t look back. He didn’t want to risk looking at her, much less making his presence known and being within five feet of her.</p><p>            The look in Kyle’s eyes said he agreed. “But she’s probably cold though. Short towel like that, fresh out of the shower…”</p><p>            Dan’s nose wrinkled involuntarily and he pressed a hand to his stomach, an unfamiliar feeling coursing through. “You’re fucking gross, dude. I’ll go if it gets you to shut up.”</p><p>            Oliver snapped to attention at that. “Please.”</p><p>            He shook his head slowly and took a step backward. “We’re not talking about this after I get back, alright? No more Natalie talk. It’s nasty.”</p><p>            His friends both nodded like eager, shaggy, overgrown puppies, and he turned around just to get away from them. It didn’t matter that he was heading straight into the Cobra’s Den; leaving that freak show? Not even an option.</p><p>            As he made his way over, steering through clumps of people smashed and falling asleep in the parking lot, memories of conversations with Amy and Ian flashed through his head. <em>“Don’t stir anything up with her. We’re turning over a new leaf, Dan”</em>; <em>“If you so much as look at her without her consent I will kill you mys—I, I mean I will thank you for keeping an eye out for her” </em>(Ian was to Amy as Oliver and Kyle were to Natalie, apparently: stupid). She’d never told him herself, but he knew Natalie went to the same college as him–except California colleges housed so many students he doubted he’d ever come across her. He didn’t even know what she was <em>studying, </em>let alone where she roomed.</p><p>            Evidently, Seton Hall. It struck him as weird he hadn’t run into her before. But she was a Kabra and, he admitted reluctantly, a Cahill: hiding was a talent ingrained in the family.</p><p>            He saw her eyes drift over to him just long enough to recognize who he was before she rolled them skywards and glared right in front of her. He didn’t let it deter him, shoving his hands in his pockets as he perfected the nonchalant stride towards her. His mind raced as he tried to think of something to say that didn’t come off as him checking up on her. That wasn’t what his friends <em>really </em>wanted him to do, but that was just as bad as the truth. He preferred to pretend all interactions between them were forced.</p><p> “Wouldn’t guess you’d be the one to streak out of the two of us, huh, Nat?” he decided on, coming to a stop just to her left.</p><p>             Natalie didn’t even spare him a glance. “Hilarious. Take notes, Daniel. No one is vomiting while I look like this outside.”</p><p>             The comment made his lips twitch. He expected her to ignore him, but the banter was a pleasant surprise. Welcome, even. “People would only be puking because of how much alcohol they drank, but nice try.”</p><p>             She didn’t respond. Silence started filling up the space amidst all the light conversation everyone around them was making, and he prickled with the realization that he didn’t want this to be one-sided. He was craving a full-on conversational brawl and she wasn’t delivering.</p><p>             “Besides,” he started up again, “I’d only streak if I was prepared for it. Like if I had pulled the alarm.” It was baiting and, honestly, he was proud of it.</p><p>             She appeared perfectly content to leave it at that, but she questioned in a weirdly casual tone, “And did you?”</p><p>             He shook his head, eyes beginning to trail down before he caught them. The towel was doing something for her, alright. It was doing something for him as well. Making his stomach turn, that was.</p><p>             “Not this time. Whoever did clearly doesn’t know comedic timing for shit.”</p><p>             It sounded a lot funnier in his head, so he wasn’t surprised she kept quiet at that. But it bothered him. He wasn’t even purposely poking at her nerves like he normally did, not to the same degree at all. The least he deserved was a reaction.</p><p>            A slight breeze passed them and he worked even harder to keep his eyes focused on her face. He could tell she readjusted herself, but her eyes didn’t betray anything. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulder and that translated into him running a hand through his own hair. Her semi-soapy hair was less tangled than the mess on his head. He almost wished she’d tell him so.</p><p>            He shifted his weight uncomfortably and commented the obvious. “Showering at midnight?”</p><p>            “It is one thirty, Daniel, but very observant.”</p><p>            “Poor timing for a Cobra. Aren’t you supposed to strike at just the right moment?”</p><p>            She kept her eyes trained on the building, not even an eye roll or a haughty scoff to let him know she heard him. It was setting him on edge. He didn’t like it.</p><p>             He tried another tactic. “Not so confident without your face caked in makeup?” he jabbed, eyes flitting across her face even as he said it, picking apart what was less defined and what was somehow <em>more </em>defined.</p><p>             She looked at him then, her amber gaze cutting into and almost through him like a knife. <em>Definitely more defined. </em>“Was that supposed to be an insult?” But her tone was off, and he wondered if he’d put a tiny crack in her age-old armor.</p><p>             Dan wanted to break the eye contact—it was way too intense for his liking—but he wasn’t going to be the first one to back down. “Could be taken as a compliment, you know. Less confidence means less of a bitch.”</p><p>             He was about to add <em>“Jury’s still out,” </em>but Natalie didn’t respond, eyes still trained on his, and it got stuck in his throat. His peripherals watched her chest rise and fall, watched the urge to snap back leave her body. She turned away.</p><p>             He finally let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. Trying to get his bearings, he faced the same direction and took in the completely empty building. It almost seemed lively with all the lights on in the chaotic panic, but with how crowded the parking lot was he knew that wasn’t the case.</p><p>             Dan pinpointed the exit he’d left through and pulled up a mental blueprint of the layout from there to his room. He let it expand until he could see the rest of the third floor and frowned to himself. “What floor are you on?”</p><p>             “Why would I ever disclose that to you?”</p><p>             He couldn’t remember seeing her name written—probably like a celebrity’s autograph if he knew her at all, and he did, unfortunately—on one of the many whiteboards on the girls’ dorms he’d passed. Dan knew he had been through every inch of every floor. He tried harder to remember.</p><p>             A room came into focus for him. “Second?”</p><p>             Natalie sighed loudly, likely the most unladylike noise he’d ever heard leave her body. “What is the point? You get no award, Daniel. Drop this unusual attempt at a conversation and go back to your pathetic friends.”</p><p>             The mention of his friends spiked his anger, and suddenly Dan was back to not caring about whatever the hell Natalie Cobra did with her time. At least that was what he told himself. He scoffed and glared at her, once again caught off guard by the lack of a mirrored expression.</p><p>             “Fine,” he conceded, leaning back on his heels. “Have fun convincing half the dorm that you’re not open for business.”</p><p>             Her jaw tightened a bit, but otherwise he got no reaction out of her. He waved at her to send a gust of cold air over her exposed skin before leaving her behind.</p><p>             This new vibe she was giving off, one that said <em>Step back </em>instead of <em>Step back or I’ll shoot you </em>was concerning. He didn’t know how to navigate around it. The mutual disgust was there, but less so… replaced with begrudging attempts to keep all his attention away from her finer assets. He had focused on her face and her biting personality, but even those weren’t quite the same. The way her wide, amber eyes looked at him sent an unwanted shiver up his spine. He wriggled against it involuntarily.</p><p>             Even from the whole way across the lot, Dan could make out his friends awaiting him like two pirates searching for treasure. They beckoned him over, arms flying around wildly and expressions betraying every emotion they were having.</p><p>             When he reached them and they asked for a recap, he didn’t even know what to tell them. So he stuck to the basics.</p><p>             “Bitchy,” he gave in, hands back in his pockets.</p><p>             “What?” Oliver balked.</p><p>             “Did you look at the towel?” Kyle asked with a new sense of urgency. Oliver echoed his interest.</p><p>             Dan’s eyes narrowed as he resorted to Natalie’s tactic: staring at the building. “She’s just bitchy, guys. I’m telling you, you’ve gotta get better taste.”</p><p>             His friends’ disappointment was palpable, but Dan tried to ignore it. He tried to ignore everything. All he wanted to do was get back into the building and continue the video game he had—hopefully—paused. Kicking Oliver’s ass would help a lot right then.</p><p>             Natalie stayed in his mind as the dean addressed the group and tore the still-at-large culprit a new one. Natalie stayed in his mind as everyone slowly filtered back in and he caught sight of a tiny white towel floating ahead of him. Natalie stayed in his mind as he passed the second floor, as he sauntered down the third floor hallway with Oliver whining beside him, as her room number—202—flashed through his head like a neon sign coming to life. Natalie stayed in his mind as he waited for Oliver to unlock the door, registering the fact that she was probably resuming her shower at that very moment and thinking about how fucking stupid he was. He didn’t want any of it.</p><p>             But after entering his dorm room and realizing he did not, in fact, pause the game, his curiosity and fascination faded to complete frustration as he fell backward onto the couch, yelling profanities.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this was an idea i wrote down ages ago and it was the first thing i actually had inspiration to write/finish so i kinda had to. originally meant to be a oneshot, but i guess this can be split into chapters. only wrote the first scene so far, so here we are. stick w me pls lmao</p><p>comment and kudos! xx</p></blockquote></div></div>
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